The Price of Love
by Silent Whisper
Summary: How far would you go for the one you love? Rating may go up, please RR. Thanks Scott (salsipuedes) for your help.
1. Changes

{**A/N:** Hey everyone, sorry I haven't written in a while. Today was my last day of school, so I can write more often now, I am still working on my other fic, but I wanted to start this one since its about summer love. This is basically an intro chapter, and this fic has nothing to do with the movie Grease, I just used the lyrics to that song in the summary because I suck at summaries!}  
  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own RP, or any of the characters in the fic, except for Marisa.  
  
**Ch. 1 : Introduction   
**  
_"Shit happeneds  
People change  
things go wrong  
but life goes on."_  
  
{I changed the quote a little after I uploaded the fic originally, this one goes better with the chapter, it being mainly about changes. :P}  
  
---  
  
It was the last full day of classes at Ocean Shores High School. Reggie Rocket was sitting in her geometry class, her teacher was going on about how to find the volume of a cylinder as part of a review for the final exam the class would be taking the following Monday. {It's Friday} Reggie looked over at Marisa, one of her closest friends since she had moved to Ocean Shores over a year ago, and rolled her eyes. Marisa laughed a little under her breath, she started mimicking their teacher quietly.  
  
"Miss Fahlburg, is there something you would like to share with the class?"   
  
"No Mrs. Sharpton." Marisa replied with a fake smile.  
  
Marisa is a short girl, just over 5' tall. She's skinny, but not grossly skinny. Her belly button is pierced, as are her ears, twice in each lobe, and once in the cartilage of the left ear. She had dark brown hair, with natural lighter brown highlights. Her eyes are also brown. She was more into team sports then extreme sports. She played on the schools soccer team in the fall, and the lacrosse team in the spring. She did like to surf a lot though, and pretty much anything else in or around the water. She grew up in Florida, and moved to Ocean Shores in the middle of her freshmen year, along with her younger adopted sister Lyndsay, and parents Kathy and Rob.  
  
Both Reggie and Marisa were excited to being juniors next year, finally they would be real upperclassmen, as sophomores, they were still younger then atleast half of the school. Though the two were even more excited about it being summer.  
  
Marisa slouched down in her chair and sighed. Reggie picked up a pen and wrote something in her notebook, she lifted it so Marisa could read what it said.  
  
"I am so done with school."  
  
Marisa smiled and nodded. Reggie closed her book and notebook and put her pen back into her purse. Just then a boy with orangy colored hair stopped in the hall out side of Reggie's class. It was Twister. Twister hadn't changed much over the years, he did grow a few inches, now at about 5'9". He smiled at Reggie then disapeared down the hall. She raised her hand.  
  
"May I go to the bathroom?" She asked once Mrs. Sharpton called on her.  
  
"Go ahead." She answered, slightly annoyed Reggie was leaving during the review.  
  
Reggie walked down the hall. Twister was waiting by the stairs.  
  
He smiled at her again, "I didn't think you'd be able to get out."  
  
Reggie laughed a bit. "Hey, What happened to your cheek?" she asked, noticing a small bruise on Twister's cheek.  
  
"Oh... I walked into a door."  
  
Reggie shook her head, it seems Twister was doing things like that a lot lately. Walking into doors, falling down the stairs, stuff like that. They walked down two flights of stairs to the cafeteria. It was fourth period, and the first lunch was half way over. Reggie and Twister's classes both ate at the third lunch. Otto and Trish ate at the first lunch though. The two found them and sat down. Reggie took the bathroom passes, from her class, and Twister's class and put them into her purse, so none of the teachers around would know they weren't supposed to be there.  
  
"Hey guys!" Trish said, her and Otto were sitting there hand in hand. The two where always holding hands, or in each others arms or something.  
  
Otto and Trish started going out a little after Marisa moved in. Infact, Marisa is the one who got the two together in the first place, she loved playing match maker with her friends.  
  
"Hey." Reggie replied, "are you still coming over tonight for the 'study sleep over' with Marisa?"  
  
"Of course, I wouldn't miss it for anything!"  
  
Reggie was having Trish over to 'study' for finals, though it was most likely, with the three of them together, no studying was actually going to get done.  
  
"Are you going to Sherri's party Saturday night?" Reggie asked.  
  
"Yep, are you? I'm only going because Sam asked me and Otto to," she started to laugh a little "he said he didn't want to be alone there with Sherri's air head friends.  
  
Reggie laughed too.  
  
Sam and Sherri started going out in the eighth grade, in the ninth grade Sherri changed completely, she became little miss popular. At one point she cheated on Sam for this popular guy. They broke up because of it and didn't talk for four months. Then she convinced him that she just made a mistake, a horrible mistake, she cried, and said how wrong she was for hurting him. They started going back out around then, and have been ever since. So far Sherri has kept her promise of being faithful. Sherri really did care for Sam, she was just not a very good person at balancing her priorities. She always got caught up with herself, and the popular crowd, she did hang out with Reggie and her old friends, but not that often. Sam had changed a lot since middle school also, he lost a lot of weight and gained muscle he was also now just about an inch shorter then Twister. He got along with most of Sherri's new friends, as did her old friends with the exception of Marisa. Sherri suspected that something was up between the two of them. Both Sam and Marisa had confided in Reggie and Trish that they liked each other, but Reggie and Trish were sworn to secrecy. If only they knew what the other was feeling. Sam spent a lot of his time with the gang, when he wasn't with Sherri, and was still the goalie for their team, and for the schools team.  
  
Reggie, Otto, Twister, and Trish all talked for a little bit, mostly about how great the summer was going to be. Eventually Reggie announced she really needed to get back to class. Twister said, "Yeah, I better go too," and the they left they way they came.  
  
After third lunch, Marisa and Reggie had history, and gym together, they both had all but one class together. Marisa was in a web design class, while Reggie was in a journalism class. Since it was the last day of school, they cleaned out there gym locker after gym, and with that, they went home.  
  
-----  
  
Marisa turned Reggie's radio on, and started dancing to whatever started playing, she was pretty energetic and hyper. Maybe a little too hyper, and too...peppy. But its better then being depressed. Right?  
  
"Ris, five minutes ago you were complaining about not being able to study tonight now your dancing around." Trish asked, sorta annoyed, it was after all three AM. The girls had been watching movies, eating ice cream, and making prank phone calls, when just as they were about to go to bed, Marisa says its time to study.  
  
"I am! this is how I get ready!" She turned the music off and giggled, she grabbed her books off Reggie's floor and went out onto her balcony.  
  
Trish and Reggie followed Marisa sleepily.  
  
"Okay guys quiz me!" Marisa said, almost to enthusiastically.  
  
"Do we really have to do this now?" Reggie asked.   
  
"Come on guys! It's so beautiful out here, with the stars and all. Take a deep breath and smell that great summer night air!"  
  
Trish took a deep breath in and pretended to cough, "All I smell is that great, pollution! I'm going to bed."  
  
"Me too," Reggie said and went back inside.  
  
Marisa stayed outside for about an hour, only looking at her book twice. When she got back in, the girls were alseep on the floor.   
  
---  
  
{**A/N:** What a weird place to leave off -- it's not a cliffhanger! So not like me. Oh well, its 2AM here and I need to sleep myself!} 


	2. No Show Party

**Ch. 2: No Show Party**  
  
_"Memories Are a Way Of Holding Onto   
The Things You Love,   
The Things You Are,   
And the Things You Never Want To Lose."_  
  
{This quote has nothing to do with the fic really, except that towards the end they sorta look back at old memories, not much detail about those memories though, but it's a good quote. :D}  
  
---  
  
Reggie yawned, it was about 6:30PM on Saturday afternoon. Marisa and Reggie are at Marisa's house Reggie is sitting on Marisa's spiny computer chair in her room. Marisa was getting dressed in her bathroom, she was modeling possible outfits for Sherri's party in two hours.   
  
"How's this look?" Marisa asked stepping out of the bathroom in a tight black mini skirt, and a hot pink halter top.  
  
"It's fine," Reggie started. "just like the last five outfits you showed me."  
  
Marisa pouted a little and looked at herself in the mirror. "I just wanna look good."  
  
"Marisa you'll look fine no matter what you wear plus your a great person if people can't see that then screw them!" Reggie stated, Marisa was often overly concerned with other peoples perception of her.   
  
Marisa smiled. "Thanks Reg," she walked over to her dresser and opened a draw and pulled out the tops of two bikinis, "which of these do you think would look cuter on me?" she asked.  
  
"URG." Reggie sighed and shook her head.  
  
---  
  
"So what do you want to do after the movie?" Otto asked.  
  
He and Trish were snuggling on the couch in the living room watching a movie. The phone rings and Otto pauses the DVD to pick it up.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Otto, is Reggie there? I really need to talk to her." It was Twister.  
  
"No, she's at Marisa's, what's up?" Otto asked noting that Twister sounded a bit frantic.  
  
"Family emergency. I'll call her over Marisa's. Do me a favor and meet me in my backyard in half an hour."  
  
"Sure thing, bro." The two boys hung up.  
  
Otto went back to holding Trish and watching the movie.  
  
---  
  
Sam suddenly felt very sick. He had a headache earlier that day. He figured it was just stress, finals were coming up and all. He just took some medicine and went back to bed. Though now he felt even worse. His head still hurt, and his stomach ached. He called Sherri to tell her, at first she wasn't very happy about him not being able to come to her party. But then she acted more understanding, she said she hoped he got well soon, they hung up, and Sam went back to his room to lay down.  
  
---  
  
The phone rang at the Fahlburg residence. Mrs. Fahlburg answered the phone.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hi, is Reggie there?"  
  
Mrs. Fahlburg could tell from the voice it was Twister. "Yeah, Twister she's here. Hold on I'll get her."  
  
"Reggie, phone!" Mrs. Fahlburg yelled.  
  
Reggie picked up the phone sitting on Marisa's dresser. "Got it!" she yelled back, and Marisa's mom hung up.  
  
"Hello," she said.  
  
Marisa listened to the conversation from the bathroom, where she was looking for her new earrings.   
  
"Oh, hey Twist," she said.  
  
There was a pause.  
  
"Why? What's wrong?"  
  
Another pause  
  
"Okay we'll be right there." She said good bye and hung up.  
  
"But what about the party?" Marisa asked, coming out of the bathroom, putting one of her earrings on.  
  
"We can still go, we still have an hour to get ready."  
  
"Okay. What's going on with Twister?"  
  
"Not sure, he wouldn't say. He just said he needed us to come over to tell us something." Reggie answered, slipping her sandals back on her feet. "Let's go."  
  
Reggie and Marisa walked down the main street where Marisa lived and onto the small street where Twister lived and walked down to his house.  
  
"He said to meet him in the backyard." Reggie motioned to Marisa who was heading up the path to the front door.  
  
Marisa followed Reggie behind Twister's house. Twister was back there, and so was Otto and Trish.  
  
"Okay, now were all here will you tell us what's going on?" Otto said a little impatiently.  
  
"Okay guys...today my aunt called..." he paused, "Clio ran away again."   
  
Clio's parents got divorced four years ago. Her mother got full custody of her, then she remarried this rich guy, who said it would be best to send Clio away to boarding school. Clio's mother agreed and off she went. About two years ago Clio ran away from the school, which is in Ireland. She didn't get along with the people there well. She showed up about three days later at Twister's. Sandy called Clio's mother and said she could stay there for a while. Clio seemed emotionally distraught, and so she was dealt with pretty leniently. This resulted in Clio using Raul and Sandy's credit cars to make purchases behind there backs, and her stealing things, not only from her family, who were kind enough to let her stay with them in her time of need, but from their friends and neighbors as well. She would sell them to make money to buy alcohol and drugs. Within a month, Sandy sent her back to her mom who sent her back to the school.  
  
"You made us come all the way over here to tell us that?" Marisa asked.  
  
Reggie explained the whole story to her. It had happened the summer before Marisa moved in.  
  
"Wow, that sucks." Marisa said after hearing the story.  
  
"Yeah man, that's rough. Do you think she'll come here?" Otto asked.  
  
"I dunno. I hope not." Twister said.  
  
The conversation soon changed to Clio's better moments with the gang that summer, which led to stories of last summer, Marisa's first summer in Ocean Shores. Which of course led to talk of how awesome this summer was going to be. Before they knew it, it had gotten really, really late. Knowing Sherri and the people she hung out with, the party wouldn't be over, but going this late would be kinda pointless. Plus nobody was really in the mood to go now anyway.  
  
---  
  
Sherri also sat in her backyard, completely alone. Deep down she knew it had probably been planned out like this. But she tried to tell herself that her 'friends' just forgot it was this Saturday.  
  
It turned out there was another party somewhere else, and someone 'forgot' to tell Sherri.  
  
Sherri sighed, it was late. She went inside her house, turned off the kitchen light, and went upstairs to her room.  
  
---  
  
{**A/N:** Hehe, I unfortunately am sensing some writers block coming on, for the most part I know where I'm going with this story. There are a few things I need to work out though, hopefully I'll have the next chapter out this weekend, or early next week, or if I get really inspired, or bored, it could be sooner.   
  
Thanks you guys for reviewing!  
  
Spice of Life: That really sucks, about your fic being deleated that is. :(  
  
Mike: Thankya. There not going out... yet... ;D.} 


	3. Final Exams

{**A/N:** I know, so far all of the chapters have been geared more towards the girls, and this chapter is the same. I suppose it's because I am a girl and I'm better writing things about girls...or something. Anyway, I promise I'm going to write more about the guys soon, especially Sam. Thanks for reading guys, and keep the reviews coming. ;D}

**Ch. 3: Final Exams**  
  
_"When the world around you  
is not what it seems  
the only thing you can count on  
are your dreams."_  
  
---  
  
Marisa tapped her number two pencil nervously against the desk. At OSHS final exams counted for 10% of your grade for the year, (the mid-term also counts as 10%) which when it came time for averaging the grades, wasn't really all that much. It sure seemed like a lot though. Marisa looked around the room, people were biting there nails, taping there feet on the ground, and fidgeting around in their seats. On everyone's faces was a look of sleep depravation, probably up all night cramming for the test. Except of course Tiffany Brooks, the most popular girl in school, she had Sherri acting as her own personal assistant, she was sitting in the corner desk way in the back applying yet another coat of makeup.  
  
Mrs. Sharpton walked in, the first exam was math. Later on in the day was the history exam.  
  
"Good morning," Mrs. Sharpton said cheerfully, looking at the room full of groggy teens. She got no response. "C'mon guys, just one more day and your done!" she started to hand out the exams.  
  
Once she finished the room became quiet, all you could hear for the next 90 minutes were the sounds of people hitting the buttons of a calculator, and the sound of pencil of paper. There was also the occasional sound of someone turning a page. Marisa was pretty good with math she didn't like it much though. The test was no problem for her, even though she had been up all night worrying about it, not that she would have slept anyway, Marisa was a bit of an insomniac. Reggie on the other hand, was horrible in math, a huge English or history essay she could do, but she wasn't so great with numbers, and this year was doubly bad, as sophomores had to take chemistry, which was like taking a second math course! Marisa finished the test 45 minutes early, she glanced over at Reggie who was still hard at work, then started reading a book she had brought with her. Reggie finished just a few minutes before the bell.  
  
When the bell rang at around 9:30 Marisa and Reggie went to meet up with Trish, who since she was in a different geometry class, was taking the test in a different room. The three had made plans to meet Twister, Otto and Sam at the shack. When they got there the guys were already there, drinking shakes and eating fries. At noon they would all have to go back to school for their second exam, they couldn't agree on where to go until then. Twister and Otto wanted to go skate at mad town. Marisa wanted to go shopping. Reggie and Trish wanted to go to the amusement part, and Sam just wanted to chill at the shack. The teens decided a compromise was in order. They stayed at the shack for an hour, then went to the amusement park for an hour, and then went skating until they were due back at school.  
  
"Sorry we didn't get to go shopping Risa, maybe we can go after school today?" Reggie asked on the way to the class where she, Trish, and Marisa would be taking there history final.  
  
"Nah, it's all right I've got all summer to shop." Marisa replied.  
  
"You sure?" Trish asked, surprised her friend would pass up an offer to go shopping.   
  
"Yeah, plus I'm kinda tired, I think I'm gunna go one and go to bed."  
  
They walked into the class, a few people were already there, by the time the teacher came the class was full. The teacher passed out the exams and everyone got started on them.  
  
The bell rang at 1:30, Marisa went right home as she planned. She walked into her empty house. Her Mom and Dad were working, and Lyndsay was only in the second grade, they didn't have finals. She'd be home around three. Marisa went to her room and plopped down on the bed. Her cat, named Princess, was already laying there. She petted Princess until she eventually fell asleep.  
  
---  
  
The next day was pretty much the same, except Tuesday's exams were English and chemistry.  
  
After school Marisa went home right away again. This didn't worry the gang much, she spent a lot of days in bed, on account of her not sleeping at night.  
  
Reggie, Trish, Otto, and Twister all went surfing. The girls met the guys at the beach. The first thing Reggie noticed, well second if you count Twister's well built body, though Reggie had been noticing that a lot lately, was a bruise, a little larger then Reggie's fist right on Twister's hip.   
  
"Wow Twist, that looks sore, what did you do now?" She asked.  
  
Twister hesitated. "I slipped getting out of the shower last night."  
  
That whole afternoon Reggie tried to shake off Twister's newest accident. There was just something about it though. The bruise didn't really seem consistent with something you'd get falling out of a bathtub, though if you fell just the right way, anything was possible Reggie thought. It was kind of gross looking, black and purplish colored. Reggie winced just looking at it.  
  
---  
  
That night Twister lay awake in bed thinking about that day. He also thought about Reggie, he did that quiet often actually. He really liked her, more then as a friend, and sometimes he thought she felt the same way.  
  
"Should I tell her what's really going on?"  
"No, she wouldn't understand."  
"Sure she would Twister, she's your friend, plus she really cares about you!" Twister thought, fighting with himself in his head.  
  
"I should tell her, she's one of my best, and most caring friends. If I can't tell her, who can I tell?" Twister said to himself just before falling asleep.  
  
---  
  
{**A/N2:** Hey guys, sorry this is a little short, it's only about a page shorter then the last ones in my notebook, but since there's not much dialogue, its all in paragraphs, it looks MUCH shorter. I'm feeling some more writers block coming on. :P I'll write again as soon as I come up with some more ideas.}  
  
{Reviews... Thanks again guys for reviewing...  
  
Laura: Tell lemonjello I said hello! And tell him I said sorry, but I do write the fic on paper first. :( It's recycled paper though and I recycle them after! :D  
  
Mike: Last chapters writers block wasn't as bad as I thought, I guess I was just kinda lazy. 1. Oh he's fine, I just had to keep him from going to the party. :P 2. This would ruin my plot if I told you. 3. It was Sherri who had the party, but she's not going to be super depressed or anything...but she's definitely going to be pissed off. 4. Another plot ruiner.  
  
Spice of Life: Ah, yes, I know how that is, I have five little sisters under the age of five. (Two of which are one month old twins!)}  
  
{**A/N3:** Oh yeah, and in the first chapter, there were a lot of spelling/grammar mistakes because when I changed the quote after I uploaded the story, I changed it in the wrong file I had it saved as, which was the one I had before I spell checked and read it over. So I fixed that, and fixed a mistake in the second chapter as well.}


	4. A Secret is Revealed

**A/N1:** Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated in a while. Lot's of things have been coming up, you know how it is. Plus I have crappy updating habits anyway. I'm in Mexico on vacation, Cancun to be exact, I was sick for the first few days, and it's rained for the last two...not the best vacation so far, hopefully it'll get better. Not sure when I'll update again, soon I hope, I'll try, especially if it keeps raining. :P I come home on Saturday, and School starts the Tuesday after, so we'll see.

**A/N2:** Thanks Scott for your help on this it's appreciated muchly.

**Ch. 4: A Secret is Revealed**

So many up and downs  
I dont know where to start  
So many nights I cry

Life is breaking my heart

---

"Otto! Otto, wake up!" Reggie yelled at her sleeping brother.

"Otto stirred then rolled over and slapped his night stand, hard.

"Ow..." he said, remembering that he had put his alarm clock away the night before, on account of school being over.

"What do you want? It's the first day of summer, let me sleep." Otto groaned, rolled back over, and pulled his blanket over his head.

"Otto its twelve o'clock! We're going to madtown do you wanna come?"

"Who's we're?" Otto asked.

"Me, Marisa, Trish, and Twister, and you if you hurry up and get ready." Reggie replied.

"Okay." Otto sighed and got out of bed. Reggie went back downstairs.

Otto rummaged around in his closet until he found something to wear. He got dressed, put on some deodorant, and went downstairs.

"Ready?" Twister asked impatiently.

"Just about, bro." Otto said, his tone getting a bit more harsh when he said 'bro'. He poured some cereal and milk into a bowl.

"Come on, it's almost lunch time, we can stop at the shack before we skate." Twister said, damn was he in a bad mood Otto thought.

"Okay, okay fine." Otto left his untouched bowl of cereal on the counter and left with the rest of the gang.

First they stopped off at the shack, and much to their surprise, Sam was there.

"I thought you'd be with Sherri today." Marisa said walking to where Sam was sitting.

"Yeah, well, her and her family are in Arizona for the next three weeks."

"Awesome! I mean...oh man, that really sucks." Marisa tried not to smile, Sam just laughed.

After the six of them finished their lunches they went over to madtown. They skated around for a while. Twister was having some trouble concentrating on nailing his moves. So he ended up just filming everyone. Otto on the other hand had no trouble concentrating and spent the afternoon showing off as usual. At about four they decided to call it a day. The guys went back to the shack to get some dinner, while the girls went off to do some shopping.

Reggie, Marisa, and Trish stopped at an ice cream parlor on the boardwalk for some ice cream, while they waited in line to order Reggie noticed a sign on the wall, it said:

HELP WANTED

part time job opening for the summer

competitive wages

flexible hours

ask for an application at the window, or inside

"Hey, look at that guys," Reggie pointed at the sign, "we should get a job here."

"That'd be fun," Marisa said, "lets go for it."

"I'm game." Trish added.

When it was their turn to order, Reggie asked the girl at the window about the job.

"How old are you?" the girl asked.

"We're all fifteen, how old do you have to be to work here?"

"Fourteen, usually the manager comes and talks to you about the job, but he's not here, so I'll just tell you myself I guess. I work four hours a day, three days a week. I get to choose the hours and the days, and I get paid eighty-four dollars a week, that's before taxes," the guy working there had gotten their ice creams ready before the girl, whom from her name tag Reggie figured her name was Katie, finished talking. Katie handed Reggie three applications, and they went to the shack to tell the guys.

"Hey guys, guess what!" Reggie said to Sam, Otto and Twister, "We're going to apply for jobs!"

"That's great," Sam said, "where at?"

"At the ice cream parlor," Reggie answered, sitting down.

"Your what?!" Ray said from behind the counter.

"I'm getting a summer job, dad."

"Why? You always work here!"

"Yeah, but I'll get more money there, and I need money to buy stuff I want."

"Well, if it's more money you want I'll give you more! How much will you be making a week?"

"Eighty-four dollars, before taxes." Reggie replied.

"I'll give you eighty-five!"

"Dad, that's only a dollar more...."

"Eighty-nine?"

"Dad they have better hours too, we'll get to choose when we work."

"C'mon rocket girl, I need you here. I'll be more flexible."

"No dad! I'm getting a real job! I have to grow up one day! Stop treating me like a baby!" Reggie stormed off, with Marisa and Trish right behind her.

"Reggie, what was that all about?" Marisa asked, they were now at Reggie's house.

"I'm just sick of him treating me like a little girl, I don't really feel like talking about it right now, I'd just like to be left alone." Reggie went upstairs to her room, leaving her friends alone downstairs.

"I'll call you tomorrow!" Marisa called out before her and Trish left.

A couple of hours later, around seven, Twister called Reggie.

"Hello?" Reggie said into the phone.

"Hey Reg, umm, can I talk to you about something?"

"Sure, anything Twist."

"Umm I'd kinda like to talk face to face, can you come over? We could watch a movie or something...."

"Okay, I'll be over in a few."

"Okay, I'll talk to you then."

Reggie walked across the street to Twister's house, he let her in and they walked up to his room.

"So, what's on your mind?" Reggie asked.

"Umm well...."

"REGGIE! Your dad's on the phone!" Sandy yelled from downstairs.

"ARG, hold on."

"Okay."

Reggie went downstairs, a few minutes later she walked back upstairs, Raul was walking into Twister room yelling, just as she reached the top of the stairs. She went to Twister's doorway, to see what was going on, but she didn't go in the room.

"Twister I told you to be home at three to help me clean out the garage!" Twister's father screamed, he appeared to be a bit on the drunk side.

"I'm sorry dad, I just lost track of time." Twister said, he looked really scared, like this wasn't the first time his dad flipped out on him.

"I don't care, when I say you be somewhere, you better be there. ON TIME!" Raul smacked Twister, right across his temple, "do you understand?" He asked.

"Yes dad." Twister answered.

Reggie quickly ducked into Lars' room, the closest to her, so Raul wouldn't know she saw what happened. Luckily, Lars wasn't home at the time.

When she was sure he was gone she went back into Twister's room. He was just sitting there on his bed, he knew she had seen what happened, he wouldn't look at her.

"Twister...is this what you wanted to tell me?" Reggie sat down, and pulled him into a big hug.

"Don't tell..." Twister said softly, a tear rolled down his check.

"I won't" Reggie whispered back, and she kissed his forehead.

**A/N3:** Ohhh, Twister's secret is revealed, how long can Reggie keep it a secret? That last part there, was inspired by the book Dreamland by Sarah Dessen.


	5. Trouble and More

**A/N:** Oh man, two days in a row! (well it would have been if wasn't in read-only mode so I could have uploaded it yesterday...) Sorry this chapter is a bit shorter then the others. Don't expect me to update a lot like this all the time, I've just been bored, It's supposed to rain until Friday, so much for my vacation! Oh well, I'm still out of the house, and the rain is kinda nice :D

**A/N2:** Thanks again to Scott (salsipuedes/knoodelhed) for reading over this and fixing a few things, and coming up with the chapter name.

**Ch. 5: Trouble...and More**

_Opportunities come only if you take risks  
You can't steal second with your foot still on first_

---

It had been two weeks since Reggie saw Twister's dad hit him. She was kicking herself now for promising not to tell anyone. Every time he had a new bruise she begged him to let her help, but he always refused.

One night Twister asked Reggie to come over again, his parents were out at a party, and there was no doubt Raul would be drunk when they got home.

Reggie and Twister sat down in the living room watching a movie, for the first time in a while Lars was home, but he was upstairs in his room.

Sure enough, Raul came home drunk. He gave Reggie and Twister a look of disgust.

"Maurice, I need to talk to you upstairs. Now." He said angrily.

Twister got up, Raul grabbed his arm, and practically dragged him upstairs. At the same time, Lars was coming down the stairs. He shook his head and plopped down on the couch next to Reggie.

"So... whacha watching?" Lars asked.

Sandy sighed and walked into the kitchen.

"Does he hit you too?" Reggie asked quietly.

Lars looked at her, surprised. "Once," he paused, "...I hit him back."

"Why don't you help him?"

"I'm never home when it happens."

"You are now."

"Yeah, but if I go up there, he'll be really pissed, not at me, but at Twister, and the next time he goes into one of his rages I might not be here..."

Reggie sighed.

---

"Why is she over here?" Raul asked his son.

"She's my friend, we were watching a movie." Twister replied, avoiding contact with his fathers eyes.

"What have you been telling her?" he grabbed Twister's shoulders and shook him.

"Nothing. We just watched the movie!"

"Don't give me that attitude!" Raul gave Twister a hard shove backwards, causing Twister to hit his head on the wall behind him.

Raul walked back down stairs, calm as could be. Once Reggie was sure he had gone into his bedroom she went upstairs to Twister and held him until he fell asleep, just like she had on that first night Reggie found out about the abuse.

Reggie left at around midnight, Lars was still watching the TV.

"Lars, I need to tell someone. He needs help." Reggie said.

"No, I'll take care of it."

Reggie thought for a second, a few years back she and the guys made a truce with Lars and his friends, they promised to just stay of out each others way, and things would be fine. "Okay," she said finally. Lars offered to walk her home, but she insisted on going alone. She walked home, Otto was waiting up for her.

"Where have you been?" he asked.

"Twister's house, why?"

"Just wondering...what's going on?"

Reggie bit her lower lip, debating weather or not to tell him. "Nothing, we just watched a movie is all. And I'm a big girl, Otto; I don't need you looking out for me."

---

The next day Marisa and Reggie had their job interview. Trish had already had her interview the day before. Reggie's interview was at eleven. She got up at nine, went to the kitchen, and made herself some breakfast. After that she went back upstairs and took a nice long shower, then she got ready and went downstairs, her father was sitting on the couch.

"Dad, can you drive me to the ice cream parlor on your way to work? I don't want to get dirty." Reggie asked, she and Ray hadn't really talked too much since she applied for the job.

"Sure, princess. Look, I just want to say I'm sorry. It's your life and I have to let you make your own decisions."

"Thanks dad." Reggie smiled.

Ray drove Reggie to the ice cream parlor, and then drove off to the shack. Reggie walked inside and up to the counter.

"Hi. I'm here for an interview."

"Ah, yes," she pointed to a little room in the corner of the store, "just go right in there."

Reggie walked into the room, it had a little plaque that said 'manager' on it. Inside was a guy, he looked to be in his early to mid 20's. _He's the manager? He looks kinda young, he's kinda cute though... _Reggie thought. The manager stood up and reached out his hand.

"Hi. I'm Greg Miller, you must be Reggie Rocket."

"Yeah, hi." Reggie smiled and shook Greg's hand.

"Have a seat. I'm just going to ask you a couple questions."

"Okay," she sat down.

"So...have you ever had a job before?"

"Well, I've helped my dad at his restaurant."

"Oh? What kind of things did you do there?

"Different things, dishes, cleaned tables, worked the register."

"Ah, that's good. How are you with people?"

"I'm great with people. I think I work better with people than by myself."

"That's good." Greg nodded.

The questions continued for about ten minutes. Then Greg said, "Well, thank you very much, we'll give you a call by the end of the week."

"Okay, thank you." Reggie shook his hand again and then left.

---

Marisa's interview was an hour after Reggie's, her Mom dropped her off and she went inside, her interview went pretty much the same as Reggie's with the same "Well thank you very much, we'll give you a call by the end of the week," at the end.

When she was walking home she saw Sam standing alone on the pier, looking out over the ocean. She walked over to him. "Hey, what are you doing?"

Sam snapped out of his trance, "Oh hey, I'm just thinking, sorry."

"It's alright, anything you wanna talk about?"

Sam turned and faced Marisa, they stared at each other for a moment, and then they kissed.

---

Lars was sitting around at home, flipping through the channels when the doorbell rang. He got up and answered the door.

"Yeah...?"

**A/N3:** Oh the suspense. Twister's getting the shit beat out of him, Reggie's getting a job, Sam's cheating on Sherri, and who the hell is at the door? Muahahaha. Only I know. :D Keep the reviews coming, I love you guys!


	6. Clio's in Town

**A/N: **Heh, sorry about the wait, I've been lazy. I'll try and update sooner this time. Oh yeah, I added little quote thingies to the last two chapters that I didn't add before, so yeah, I had to repost those chapters, go look if you want. They don't always have something to do with the chapter directly, but their still fun to read. :D

**A/N2:** Scott has helped a lot with the plot development of this story, and has beta read the last few chapters, along with helped me to write this chapter. So from now on just assume he beta read and/or helped, so that I don't sound like a broken record thanking him every chapter. Thanks again. :-P

**Ch. 6: Clio's in Town**

_Take a good look at yourself   
__before you start putting   
__other people down   
__when you judge someone else   
__it doesn't define who they are it   
__only shows who you are_

---

Lars looked at the girl standing in front of him. She was wearing an unzipped gray Von Dutch sweatshirt with a tight white tank top underneath and baggy gray pants, on her feet were hot pink flip flops. She had a silver figaro chain around her neck, and big silver hoop earrings that must have been at least two inches in diameter. Sitting on the stairs next to her were two Burberry suitcases, which matched the purse she had over her shoulder. It took Lars a few minutes to realize that this girl was Clio, his cousin.

"What are you doing here?" Lars asked.

"That's no way to speak to your cousin, Lars," she responded. "Aren't you going to help me with my luggage?"

Lars mumbled something to himself before picking up her bags. "Wait here," he said. He took her things and went upstairs, but instead of putting them in the guest room, he went into his own bedroom and hid her bags under his bed. He walked back downstairs, Clio was sitting down on the couch playing around with her cell phone.

"We need to talk, Clio." Lars said.

"Okay, what do you wanna talk about?" Clio answered without looking up.

"Not here," Lars opened the door, "let's go."

Clio got up off the couch, "Where are we going?"

"I don't know yet," Lars picked up his roller blades and walked out onto the porch to put them on.

"Wait, I can't roller blade, I might get dirty or something," Clio replied. "I'm meeting someone later. Let's take your car."

"I'm not supposed to use it, it hasn't been inspected yet."

"Then let's stay here and talk."

"Aaaaaaaargh!" Lars complained as he walked back inside and returned a few minutes later with the keys to his car. "So, do you wanna drive?"

"Yeah right, and when we get pulled over for not having a sticker I'll get in trouble," huffed Clio.

"Oh well, you can't say that I didn't try," sighed Lars as the two of them got in his car. Lars drove for a while before parking at a Starbucks in a town about 10 miles into the countryside.

There wasn't anybody waiting at this hour, so the two of them just walked up to the barista and placed their orders, Lars getting something simple and strong, but with some chocolate and cream; Clio something very elaborate. They sat down at one of the empty tables in the establishment.

"You coming back so...soon. That's a bit of a surprise. So, what's going on? Shannon to LAX is a heck of a long ride to take on a whim," asked Lars.

Clio drew a long breath and looked into the surface of her drink, then answered. "Well, at first it was cool being at St. Agnes, having no guys around. But, ultimately, I didn't fit in...I mean, we're well off, but not that wealthy, at least since Cleotilda's investment portfolio started heading spaceward. It started to suck when I noticed that a lot of the girls spent a lot of time talking about one's mom owning this humongous corporation and another's dad being the prime minister of some gorgeous island in the Caribbean or the South Pacific..." She sighed visibly. "You and I have had to do things by ourselves. I hate seeing my reflection in other people's silver platters. You have such a simple but enjoyable life here...surfing, skating, hockey--things my classmates couldn't do in a hundred years without personal training and a five-hour plane ride."

"But," Lars asked, now even more perplexed than ever, "you could have stuck it out another what, couple of months? You could have graduated and then be able to do whatever you want." Still, he empathized with her on one level; even a palace of luxury could still be a prison if one wasn't allowed to leave.

"Anyway," she continued, "I've been in correspondence with a...a guy who turns out to live close by here, and I'd like very much to meet him."

"And who would this guy be?" asked Lars, a look of concerned puzzlement on his face.

"Tim Francis."

"Tim Francis?!?!" Lars repeated Clio's answer, wigging out. "That guy is baaaaaaad news, girl! I'd let you date Pi before I let you within ten feet of ol' Greaseball."

"Well, first of all, I never said anything about dating him. And I'm not asking your permission, I'm telling you I'm going to meet this guy."

"But--but what do you see in that guy? Even Rocket Dork's twice the man he is, and I know the two of you have a history of sorts."

"Have you even talked to the guy? I mean besides trash talk and rumors, do you even know him? He's not a bad guy if people would just give him a chance."

"Do YOU even know him Clio? You've only talked to him online right?"

"I did get a picture of him once," Clio replied. "And not a staged portrait--I got a candid shot of him goofing around by his pool, so at least I know what he really looks like!"

"So, his looks can't tell you much about his personality."

"But his mind can. And I think we've shared enough of ours to...justify a meeting."

"Well, where do the two of you plan on meeting?"

"At this...video arcade out by the old tuna factory. I told him I'd send him a message once I got into town," Clio continued, "and he'd meet me there like an hour later."

"That's a baaaaaaaad part of town," Lars observed. "Who'd ever wanna meetcha there's gotta have...ulterior motives." He naturally searched his vocabulary when speaking with her.

"I know how to protect myself, my mom had me attend a self-defense class after she heard about a string of assaults on girls attending my school. Plus I'm not stupid, and I'm almost an adult, I can take care of myself, little cuz."

"That you are," admitted Lars, raising his cup. "But that doesn't stop me from being a gentleman and worrying about you."

"Anyhow," Lars continued, "'til we figure out what you're gonna do later, I hope you brought your bathing suit, cuz there's one heck of a south swell headed this way."

"I brought everything with me, I'm not going back to that place."

The two of them paid for their drinks and went back out into the parking lot.

"Hey Lars let's go get your car inspected." Clio said pointing at a gas station across the street.

"Can't. I don't have the money, and my parents are going to be home soon and I need to get the car back there."

"Well, you said the only reason you can't use it is it's not inspected, and I have money, so let's go," she insisted.

"Alright, but I still think you shouldn't be hanging around with Tim!"

"Okay." Clio laughed.

---

Marisa and Sam went back to Sam's house, to avoid being seen by any of Sheri's friends. Paula wasn't home so the two of them were alone, making out on the couch.

"Do you wanna go to a movie?" Marisa asked, not wanting things to go too far between them.

"Uh, sure." Sam replied, sounding a little disappointed.

Reggie needed to ask Sam something, she figured Sam would be the one who could best keep a secret, she wanted to ask him a 'hypothetical' question having to do with Twister being abused. She was surprised when just as she was about to knock on the door, it opened and Sam and Marisa were standing there.

"Hi Reggie," Marisa said after an awkward silence.

"Hey... uh... where are you two off to?" Reggie asked.

"We're going to see a movie, you should come." Marisa smiled.

"No way, I'll be the third wheel!"

"So ask Twister to come too."

"Alright," Reggie wasn't really in the mood to see a movie, but she wanted to find out what was up with Sam and Marisa.

After getting Twister, they all went to the movie. The movie they saw was Romeo and Juliet staring Leonardo Dicaprio and Claire Danes. Once the movie was over they left the theater.

"That movie was so sweet." Marisa said dreamily

"Yeah, the way the two of them die together is so sad, but sweet." Reggie added, "So, Ris, when did the two of you get together..."

"Oh, we were just hanging around, we saw each other on the Pier and neither of us had anything to do so..."

"Riiiiight... I guess what Sherri doesn't know won't hurt her." Reggie said, thought she was a bit upset with Marisa, one friend messing around with her other friends boyfriend. Big no-no.

A friend of Sherri, named Kristen, was also at the theater that night, with her boyfriend. She saw Sam with Marisa, she watched them the whole time the movie was playing. She couldn't wait to get home so she could call Sherri on her cellphone to tell her what she had seen.

---

**A/N3:** Don't forget to review. Thanks.


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